By FRED BONNER

When a wealthy American dentist recently shot and eventually killed a famous African lion that wandered off a refuge where it was undergoing testing, it caused quite an outcry from animal rightists. Threats against the hunter’s life for killing “Cecil the Lion” came from all over the world and the various news agencies gave it front-page exposure.

It might be wise to get all the facts about this incident before making hasty judgments against the hunter or the guide who oversaw his paying client on the hunt that resulted in a worldwide outcry against trophy hunters (and sport hunters in, general).

It was many years ago that I, as a recently hired wildlife biologist by a state wildlife management agency, was invited to participate in a goose hunt with a number of hunters. The hunt took place on a farm that bordered a wildlife refuge that was a winter home to many thousands of Canadian geese.

Like many waterfowl hunters, I was well acquainted with the laws having to do with shooting ducks and geese over (or with the aid of) bait. In the pre-dawn darkness, I took a good look at the area immediately surrounding the blind where we were to wait for geese to come into range and found no sign of bait. I even asked the farmer on whose land we were hunting if there was any bait present in the area and he replied that there was none. As soon as the shooting hours came, we shot our daily limit of geese, gathered up out birds and went home.

The next day another group of hunters that contained several politically important individuals came to the farm to hunt geese and, after shooting a few birds, were approached by a couple of federal game wardens who placed them under arrest for shooting waterfowl with (or with the aid of) bait. How could that be when just one day earlier I had been hunting from that same blind?

It turned out that the farmer (the president of the local Ducks Unlimited chapter) who owned the blind was using what is called a “duck plate” to entice the geese to visit his pond for free food.

In this case, the “duck plate” was a large washtub with small holes punched in the bottom that was filled with shelled corn and sunk in the shallow water near the blind to attract the birds. The duck plate was put in place at night, the birds came to feed from it and, well before daylight, the farmer and his son removed the duck plate and took it back to the barn. The farmer was not misleading me when he answered my question about bait being present because there was no bait present when I (or others a day later) was hunting there.

When this particular case went to court and it was proven that none of the hunters has any knowledge of the fact that they’d been hunting over an area where the geese were being hunted with the aid of bait, the court found all the hunters not guilty. On the other hand, the farmer who owned the land where then hunt took place was charged and he was found guilty of illegally baiting waterfowl.

Apparently the federal game wardens had been aware for weeks that the geese were being baited on this particular farm and had waited for some time as they observed and waited for some politically-important hunters to actually be there before they swooped in and charged the “bigger game” and important individuals. I’d been “small potatoes” to the wardens who really wanted to cause trouble for some “larger game,” politicians. Cecil’s death has certainly enriched the cash in the pockets of some of the animal rights organizations.

This case well illustrates the concept that could be happening in the recent case of a wealthy American big game hunter’s taking of a well-known African lion. Hopefully many people will wait for the whole truth to come out and leave it to the courts decide just who is at fault.

From what information is available at this time, it appears that the African guiding service and the guide involved in Cecil’s untimely death may be at fault if indeed any laws were broken. Unless the dentist/hunter who actually had prior knowledge that Cecil was on a refuge and fell under any protective laws, then he could be held responsible.

Contrary to what many well-meaning people think, the African lion is not an endangered species. Their numbers are in a decline and there is an active movement underway that would have the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declare the African lion endangered. In a recent Twitter post, Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe called the killing tragic and said his agency would “go where facts lead” in its investigation.

It certainly appears to many that Cecil’s death has caused an international outcry from the animal rightists who are on a rampage to establish predators. Eastern North Carolinians are reminded of the ongoing battle over the introductions (not re-introduction) of red wolves in our sparsely populated five county area of Eastern North Carolina. It is also increasingly obvious that the eventual goal of the animal rightists is to ban the sport of hunting altogether. The old saying of “follow the money flow” is very obvious in the Cecil the Lion case.

It’s third-grade biology that every ecosystem needs a top predator to keep the lower animal populations under control. In most of today’s world man has become that top predator. Once a new, top predator is in place and established, then hunting could become unnecessary.